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Stockholm Antiquarian Book Fair 2017

Royal Academy of Art

The Swedish Antiquarian Booksellers Association (SVAF) has now announced the dates for the 2017 Stockholm Antiquarian Book Fair. The fair will take place from the 4th to the 5th of March at Stockholm’s beautiful Royal Academy of Arts.

Twenty-five booksellers from Sweden, Finland and England will exhibit rare books and antiquarian material. The Stockholm fair is also a showcase for some of Sweden’s finest bookbinders and publishers.

As a joint initiative, the national associations of Sweden, Denmark and Norway decided to set up an online database for their members back in October 1998, www.antikvariat.net, which will also exhibit and demonstrate its services during the fair. Antikvariat.net is not only an important tool for the antiquarian trade in the Scandinavian countries but also an established platform for book collectors.

Bernadotte Library (c) Royal Palace, Stockholm

Sweden has a long tradition in antiquarian bookselling. Its national association Svenska Antikvariatföreningen (SVAF) was established in 1936, and has belonged to the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers since its beginnings. Stockholm alone lists 15 antiquarian booksellers who are affiliated to the SVAF and therefore to ILAB.

Booksellers, libraries, printers and publishers have always played a significant role in the history of Sweden. One of the more beautiful libraries of Sweden, the Bernadotte Library, which is the library of the present royal family, is housed in the Royal Palace in Stockholm. The library contains the royal book collection of over 100,000 books, that have belonged to the Bernadotte kings and queens throughout the ages.

The Library of Queen Lovisa Ulrica (1720-1782), sister of Fredrick the Great and mother of Gustavus III is housed at Drottningholm Palace, the royal family’s permanent home residence. Queen Lovisa Ulrica was very well educated and a patron of culture and scientists, among whom was Carl Linnaeus (also ”Carl von Linné"), the renowned Swedish botanist.

Also in Stockholm, the Hagströmer Library (Hagströmerbiblioteket) houses a world class collection of medical books and book museum.

Sweden’s National Library, the Royal Library is a legal deposit library. The library’s Special Reading Room allows the study of all material belonging to the special collections, such as printed music, posters, manuscripts, maps, books printed before 1830, ephemera and documents from the library's official archives.

Stockholm’s Nordiska Museet holds one of Sweden’s most important archives as well as library with over 250,000 books and journals. Stockholm’s public library is well known for its Rotunda, the iconic central building of the library. According to UNESCO’s 1998 World Culture Report, the Nordic countries are among the nations with the highest numbers (per capita) of library books and book titles published annually.

One of the first printing presses in Sweden, the royal printing press Kungliga Tryckeriet was founded in Stockholm in 1526, holding a monopoly for almost 100 years. With only one printing house in 1600, a century later Sweden had 17 printing houses of which 6 were based in Stockholm. Some of Stockholm’s printing houses – Ignatius Meurer, Henrik Keyser, Georg Gottlieb Burchardi – also operated as publishers with international connections. Already back in the 1700’s, these publishers and printers traded in scholarly books in Latin with their European colleagues at book fairs.

Popular literacy was given high priority and was encouraged from the 17th century onwards and records have shown that by the mid-18th century more than 90% of adults were able to read religious texts. The first bookseller set up in Stockholm in 1647. Universities started importing foreign books and by 1700, more publishers and booksellers had opened their shops. By the late 19th century, amongst various publishing houses, the Bonnier publishing house had a significant impact on the Swedish market, mainly by publishing Strindbergs works, who is often referred today as the father of Swedish literature. Bonnier today is a major international media group. Strindberg’s memory is kept alive in the Strindberg Museum in Stockholm with its library, collections and archives.

Mats Petersson

The organisers of the fair have chosen one of Stockholm’s most beautiful and most appropriate venues for a rare book fair, the Royal Academy of Arts. The Royal Swedish Academy of Arts was founded in 1773 by King Gustaf II, it is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden and also houses a significant book collection and library of art books.

Mats Petersson, President of the Swedish Booksellers Association has commented: “We invite national and international visitors to this exceptional venue and have chosen an art-books theme for the 2017 fair. In cooperation with the Royal Academy, we will host a number of lectures and a booth especially dedicated to art books.”

For more information and a listing of all exhibitors, please visit the website of the Swedish Antiquarian Booksellers Association.

Rare Book Gallery

Photography from the V-2 rocket at...

Bergstralh, T. A.

Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC 1947 - The First Published Photographs of the Earth Taken from Space Bergstralh, T. A. Photography from... More

Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC 1947 - The First Published Photographs of the Earth Taken from Space Bergstralh, T. A. Photography from the V-2 rocket at altitudes ranging up to 160 kilometers. N. R. L. report no. R-3083. [ii]-vi, 25pp., 12 original photographic prints included in pagination. 1 sheet of printed Library of Congress catalogue cards laid in. Washington, DC: Naval Research Laboratory, April 1947. 265 x 204 mm. Original printed wrappers, cloth backstrip, small marginal tear in front cover; boxed. Fine copy, one of only 47 produced. First Edition of the first published photographs of the Earth from space&#151;the first photographs to show the earth&#146;s curvature Extremely rare&#151;the distribution list on p. iii of Bergstralh&#146;s report indicates that only 47 copies were prepared for various military, academic and private research institutions. The photographs, which show a large portion of the American southwest, were taken from cameras mounted on a V-2 rocket launched from the proving ground at White Sands, New Mexico. The rocket, which bore the number 21 but was the 20th V-2 launched at White Sands after number 1 misfired, was one of over 60 V-2 rockets captured from the Germans at the end of World War II in 1945. At that time the German rocketry program was at least 20 years ahead of any other such program in the developed world. As part of Project Paperclip, the United States government brought both the captured V-2s and over 100 German rocketry experts (headed by Wernher von Braun) to America, where they began what is now the U. S. space program. In 1946 the Upper Atmosphere Research Panel (also known as the V-2 panel) was formed to oversee a program of high-altitude experiments conducted using the V-2 rockets. On October 24, 1946 the research team was able to obtain photographs of the Earth taken from 65 miles above the surface; however, these photographs were not published until 1950 (see Newell, High Altitude Rocket Research p. 288). The present report announces that photographs were taken from more than 100 miles above the earth. "On 7 March 1947 the twentieth V-2 to be launched in America took to the air from the Army Ordnance Proving Ground at White Sands, New Mexico. As on several of the previous flights, an attempt was made to obtain photographs of the features of interest on the rocket and, of course, of the earth. In this attempt the effort met with considerable success. Included among the group of pictures obtained are the first ever to be taken from altitudes greater than 160 kilometers (100 miles). The quality of the photographs is fairly good. For the first time, in pictures taken at such high altitudes, it is possible to recognize clearly many geographical features. In addition a large number and variety of cloud formations were recorded by the cameras and other information of meteorological value" (p. 1). Photographs 11 and 12 are especially notable. Number 11 includes an overlay showing landmarks in New Mexico, Arizona and the Gulf of California. The caption to number 12 states that "this picture covers approximately 500,000 square miles of southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The photographs [making up the composite] do not match exactly due to the varying camera angles." Newell, High Altitude Rocket Research (1953), pp. 284-288. Krause, "High altitude research with V-2 rockets," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 91 (1947): 430-446. Reichhart, "The first photo from space," Air & Space Magazine, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Nov. 2006 (web). Less

Tindale, Thomas & Harriet R.

Rutland & Tokyo, 1952. - 4 volumes plus envelope. 13 1/4 x 10/ 3/4. Japanese-style bindings of hand-stenciled wraps & boards. Volumes contained in a Shufi-covered folding case. Case worn and soiled. One volume has a dime-sized brownish area on fore edge, but volumes are fine. With prospectus. Signed by Tindale in 1952 in Korea. One of the finest studies on Japanese paper and a magnificent production. Text in English. Replete with specimens, including old and rare documented papers from the 8th and 9th centuries. Volume I gives the history and description of Japanese papermaking, with numerous photos of processes and a fold-out plate of mounted fibers. There is an exquisitely hand colored facsimile of the ancient manuscript "Kamisuki Taigai" (process of papermaking) with English translation. It is accompanied by an envelope containing five different papermaking fibers.The Seki Collection, Volume II, has 127 French-fold pages with 187 tipped-in specimens, 2 folding maps. These specimens span the Nara period (710-793) to the 1950s (with some extraordinary decorated papers). The source of the early papers (usually a manuscript or a printed book) is documented. Size of the original sheet is given.Volume III, the Contemporary Collection has xxvi pages and 136 specimens (10 x 13) with descriptions. The specimens, from twenty districts, include decorated and imbedded papers. Volume IV is the watermarks collection, with 20 elaborate pictorial light-and-shade watermarks, made by a hand rubbing process unknown in the West. Five text pages describe the broadsides. Schlosser (No. 63) says 250 copies were planned; as few as 150 may actually have been done. See Henry Morris' Japonica for a 12 page description of this major work. Less

July 1938 - November 1940. - Approx. 150 pages. Square 8vo. Titled blue cloth over boards. Ruled pages as per contemporary log type. Various official stamps to internals. Manuscript in holograph. The keeper of this precision crafted log remains excruciatingly hidden in his 150 page memoir of war. The reader should not expect to find him anywhere but in the hard tack data and details he so fastidiously records. He was a young man at a tremendous moment. One of many who became known as " the few ". His log breaks history down to numbers and aircraft types and operational duties. The machinery of the Battle of Britain squeezed into columns. He remains anonymous to us - like the wizard behind the curtain. What we know of Sgt. Stedman begins in January 1938 with his first training flights in Tiger Moths. Precisely detailed in wonderful hand, he records months of continued training with specific detail given to Exercise and Duty Results. Quite notable is the progression of planes mastered - Tiger Moth's , DH 82's and on to the Anson. Examination and confirmation stamps with sigs. in holograph summarize his passage over the months. Training at an end , Sgt. Stedman receives Certificate of Qualification As First day and Night Pilot on Anson landplanes " in November 1938 ( to front free endsheet ) His orders attach him to 217 Squadron at Tangmere. There on the document proceeds to detail operations of an Anson pilot from the Phony War to Dunkirk to the Battle of Britain. As 217 Squadron was a reconnaissance bomber squadron, entries specifying Channel " convoy patrols " and " photo recon ' are prevalent. Further notations of dive-bombing, anti-sub patrols and night searches are scattered. As the Battle of Britain concludes, so does Sgt. Stedman. His last entry is of" Patrol SA 12 ". 16 November 1940. Log closes with stamped and signed confirmation of Monthly ( log ) Summary ( November )by F/L OC 6 December 1940. But the story closes happily with the one personal insight we have of Sgt. Stedman. Evidenced by the cover letter from the R.A.F. Record Office returning his log to him - date 27 April 1960 - ( laid-on to front free endsheet ) - we know he survived the war. Beyond that, he's the clear window glass through which we can glimpse a momentous time. Covers mildly worn, benign cloth rippling mid- spine at gutter due to previous inadequate hinge repair, Author's name in ink to front cover. A handsome and exceedingly rare Battle of Britain Pilot's log.Featured Misc. Less